10 behaviour groups that make South Africa go beyond race: Which one are you?

20 Jun 2018

SAtopShops

A Brand South Africa market research project that took a bold mission of coming up with “a social segmentation model of the diverse and complex South African society” scooped two awards at the annual Southern African Market Research Association (SAMRA) conference.

It’s not so much the awards that’s grabbing attention about the project but indications of what is inside the paper produced in collaboration with domestic perceptions research agencies, African Response and MarkData.

We would have loved to peruse the paper itself but we were told that it is not available yet. And so we had to rely on the Brand South Africa media statement announcing the two awards, the Kantar Innovation and the Best Overall Paper.

The statement said the process of developing a segmentation model for the South African society was preceded by broad questions of nationhood. This refers to “factors that influence both its making and un-making, how it is constituted through what people do, while acknowledging that how they do it, can also be the source of a nation’s un-doing.”

The statement said after extensive preparatory work a segmentation model that identify 10 broad behavior groups in South African society was reached. Interestingly enough, says the statement, none of the groups are dominated by any specific race, or traditional classification. “This means that the behavior groups and underlying segmentation model shows the extent to which South Africans have much in common when it comes to values, attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions of ourselves as a nation.”

The 10 behaviour groups identified in the paper are as follows:

Independent Humanists

Positive enablers

Activist supporters

Proud democrats

Cautious optimists

Accountability advocates

Celebrators of achievement

Uncritical loyalists

Supporters of heritage

The politically disconnected

Brand South Africa’s General Manager for Research, Dr Petrus De Kock, notes that the SAMRA awards means that “we are heading in the right direction with our domestic perceptions research programme. Through it we aim to understand the diverse and complex South African society we live in, in order to confidently communicate to both local and global audiences.”

It’s a hell of a thing to do this. SATopShops would like to hear your views on this 10 behaviour groups. And tell us where do you fall if at all.